CompTIA Makes More Inroads in Brazil

Brazil is fast becoming a worldwide hotspot for technical development and when one of the country’s leading training institutions sought an entryway to reach more of the public, CompTIA put out the red carpet.

ULT/GrupoAmericas, the Curitiba-based professional training firm with technical degree courses in 19 campuses across 11 states in Brazil and partnerships with some of the biggest companies in the IT arena, is in the final stages of its launch of a CompTIA certification program this summer.

“We need to give some of our students an overall view of the IT world which none of our courses provide,” said Carlos Oliveira, ULT’s owner and president. “Right now we only have courses on IBM, SAP and Microsoft and we feel it’s time to go to the general public and offer more general courses.

“We found that CompTIA A+ (certification) fits like a glove.”

Oliveiras, 46, expects an enrollment of about 250 students in the CompTIA A+ pilot program scheduled to begin in July as course materials continue to be translated from English to Portuguese. Courses in CompTIA Network+ and CompTIA Security+ are also in development.

“We intend to go full force as soon as materials become available in Portugues,” he said. “We will make it mandatory that our students take this (CompTIA A+) course. We expect most of them will want to have the certification.”

Since Oliveira started his company in 1997, more than 2,000 students have completed courses, either in a classroom environment or online, in extension courses including mainframe, Java, IT security, SAP training and Web management. In partnership with local colleges, the company has also offered B.S. degree courses in business administration, biofuels and forest engineering and Master’s degree courses in bioenergy, mainframe and software engineer, just to name a few.

He said he personally chose CompTIA for his foundation-level IT offering “because it’s known as one of the most important companies for training and certification in IT.

“Besides that, the CompTIA certifications are valued overseas for more than 20 years and it’ll give more credibility to my products.”

Oliveira said the credentials strengths lie in the breadth of exams covering everything from foundation-level knowledge to security professional skills.

In Curitiba, considered the heart of commerce and technology in Brazil, the value of such international certifications cannot be diminished as more and more Latin American countries jump on the technology bandwagon.

Oliveira said as additional training materials become translated into native languages, such IT validation movements will become more commonplace.

“Books in Portuguese will open the doors for more people to come to Brazil,” he said, noting such IT training courses can only increase one’s job opportunities in the country.

However, as Oliveira’s legion of instructors prepare for his firm’s CompTIA Network+ and Security+ offerings, English training materials as well as a fluency in the language will be mandatory for students because, as he said, “security at a high level must be dealt with in English.”

This summer’s CompTIA rollout might not count as his company’s biggest venture to date, but Oliveira would be hard pressed to find a bigger value than the resulting certification.

For individuals, according to Oliveira, such standardized credentials means increased job security, better career opportunities and higher workplace credibility. For their employers who hire them it means higher customer satisfaction, increased productivity and lower turnover.

“And CompTIA certifications in particular,” Oliveira said, “prepare the individuals for the basics including communication and professionalism.”